Halifax foster dad, longtime NSCAD staffer charged in child porn case

GEORDON OMAND and DORIAN GEIGERPublished June 16, 2014 - 9:38pm

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Man arrested after images of children found on USB

A foster parent in Halifax and longtime employee of NSCAD University is facing multiple child pornography charges after a NSCAD student stumbled across a USB thumb drive in a campus computer lab, allegedly containing dozens of images and videos of child porn.

Halifax police arrested Roy Franklyn Newcombe — who worked for three decades as a technician in the school’s multimedia department — on April 9, charging the 69-year-old man with both possessing and accessing child porn.

On May 1 — nearly a month after the arrest — NSCAD student union president Caleb Hung sent a cryptic email to the student body, describing “an incident regarding a staff member of a sensitive nature,” referring to it only as “the Granville Incident,” and providing students with instructions on seeking counselling.

“We knew there had been rumours spreading,” said Hung, who added he was unaware of the specifics of the incident, saying he only became aware something had happened after he approached the university administration following reports of the rumours.

“All we know is that there had been an incident at school and that a staff member had been caught with … compromising material,” said Hung, adding he was told the employee in question had since been fired.

“We set up counselling services because apparently it had been (a trigger) for some students.”

Court documents provide a timeline of the events leading up to the Granville incident.

At about midday on April 8, a student turned over a USB thumb drive found in the public area at the Granville campus multimedia area. It was around lunchtime during exam season and the room was reportedly bustling with student activity.

A front desk employee passed on the USB key to her supervisor who, according to court documents, opened the thumb drive and observed what she believed to be child pornography — reportedly involving children as young as 10 — as well as documents linking the material to the accused.

The drive made its way up through two more hands in the school administration’s chain of command before the university’s director of human resources delivered the drive to Halifax Regional Police.

Computer forensics officers discovered what appeared to be extensive child pornography on the drive — 20 images and nine videos, some of which were cartoon renderings of child porn.

Police arrested Newcombe on April 9 while he left NSCAD’s campus, charging him with possession of child pornography and accessing child pornography.

“There’s no hint or suggestion that any of the images were locally produced or that the police knew anyone in the pictures,” said Crown attorney Craig Botterill, who is in charge of the case.

In the ensuing weeks, reports of a handful of students being stressed by circulating rumours prompted Hung to contact university administration, which led to the cryptic email.

NSCAD would not comment when asked about the incident, saying only that the school “fully co-operated with the police in their investigation,” according to spokeswoman Marilyn Smulders.

Court documents filed in support of a warrant allege Newcombe may have been accessing child porn as early as 2011 and that Newcombe was a foster parent at the time of his arrest. NSCAD colleagues also reported to police being aware that Newcombe was a foster parent.

Newcombe’s wife, Cheryl Newcombe, is a prominent community member and former NDP constituency president who ran unsuccessfully for nomination for the Progressive Conservatives in the 2013 provincial election.

On her campaign page she described herself as “a proud Foster Mom.”

She declined to comment on her husband’s arrest when contacted by The Chronicle Herald.

The Nova Scotia Department of Community Services — the body responsible for overseeing the province’s foster care and child placement services — would not comment on the incident, citing legal and privacy reasons.

“Under the terms of his bail order he can’t be under the same roof as the kid,” said Botterill. “So one way or the other he’s not around the child anymore.”

Newcombe’s court order forbids him from being within 50 metres of any playground, schoolyard, pool or other area where children are known to frequent. He is also forbidden to have contact with any child under the age of 16, unless the child is in the company of a parent or guardian, and he is prohibited from possessing or accessing any device that has Internet access.

Newcombe is scheduled to appear at Halifax provincial court to enter a plea on Wednesday.